Archive for Health

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The new year brought a new level of detox for me, a new level of desire to detox. My eczema has reached the stage of manageable, I can keep it in control but haven’t quite healed. I’m ready to heal! I started poking around YouTube about healing eczema, it’s the one aspect of the internet I hadn’t poked around on already. I found a wealth of information and the most compelling cases actually came from a few sources, all of which had healed themselves of severe eczema and stayed eczema free for over 2 years.

Severe Eczema vs Eczema

Severe eczema is different than just eczema. I’ve noticed there are is a level of eczema many experience of a few patches of dry red skin that come and go with seasons and certain foods. There are loads of them on YouTube that will give you a very basic and simple prescription of a lotion and no eggs and send you on your way. But that is far from the type of eczema I have and therefore it was necessary I avoid that level of teaching and healing.

YouTube Channels for Severe Eczema

The channels I found that compelled me the most prescribed a vegan diet, no oils and no coffee. They also prescribed a deeper level of detox with daily exercise to pump the lymphatic system, weekly enemas and juicing. I was on board! For one I was ready for this level of healing and two I had already started removing a lot of animal products from my diet for a variety of reasons. For one thing, I had found the cost of keeping up with the Paleo diet way too costly. Grass fed beef, wild fish and so forth are very expensive.

So at the end of February I embraced the vegan diet and instantly fell in love. I’ll write more about that later, but for now let me introduce you to some fantastic guidance within this realm.

Rob Stuart – healed himself from severe eczema after being addicted to pot, alcohol and fast food. Pretty direct in his message, provides very good direction.

EczemaHealing.org – had severe eczema on his face. Very encouraging and great direction.

Stefan’s Health Quest – Stefan currently has eczema and is incorporating the advice of the above channels as I am. You can follow his journey and join his Facebook group which is a fantastic source of support!

Why Vegan? Why No Oil? And Why No Coffee?

Basically in one word, acidity. In order to heal my digestion and clear the pathways for detoxification the body must be alkaline. Acidity defeats alkalinity. And meat products clog the pipes, I need the pipes to be clear and moving the toxins out. The toxicity of meat and dairy is a bit counterproductive as well.

Oil is a highly processed by product of a whole food. In order to incorporate a whole foods diet I must removed the highly processed items like oil. Most oils are rancid and cut with cheaper oils anyway, I was already in the process of removing this from my diet. So instead of olive oil I eat olives. Instead of avocado oil I eat avocados.

Honestly I feel like my diet fits more in line with the true definition of paleo now than it did before. The amount of processed foods I eat is negligible compared with what I was eating on the paleo diet.

I have had a few ups and downs as I learn to incorporate a whole new diet into my life. But so far I absolutely love it and

I’ll outline some of the bumps and bruises I’ve experienced later so you can avoid them!

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In 2011/2012 I lost 30 pounds. I did this by eating at home, clean eating, some juicing and a lot of strength training. I hit my goal weight of 145 lbs and somehow I wasn’t 100% pleased with my body. My trouble area, my belly, was still a bit protruded and flabby. Everyone kept saying the stubborn belly is the hardest to get rid of, but that didn’t comfort me.

I worked out harder, tried to eat cleaner but nada. Then I got sidetracked…dating, love, bliss 🙂

2015 Starting Over with Weight Loss and Eczema

Flash forward to 2015 when it’s time to reclaim my body and my health. In 2012 I didn’t have to battle eczema along with my weight loss, now I have to focus on both. By April of 2016 I’ve dropped about 15 pounds and I feel so much better, but the belly is still hanging on. I look into probiotics, fermented veggies on and on. One thing that I know about myself is as much as I love veggies I am not getting enough in my day. Also I am buying into the diet worlds fear of fruit and really limiting how much fruit I have, and only those with a low glycemic index.

On my journey towards healing Eczema I have discovered that an abundance of veggies and fruits, yes even those that are not low on the glycemic index, are healing for eczema. It helps with detoxification, digestion and much more. Detoxing and digestion are key for getting rid of eczema. So in an effort to heal the eczema I start incorporating an abundance and I mean abundance of all fruits and veggies. For the first few weeks there is a lot of quality bathroom time. But I notice for the first time in my life I have a flat stomach.

FLAT

The photo you see here is the most recent. It’s not like I have rock hard abs to show off, so no shirtless pics…sorry. But in the photo on the left I’m actually wearing yoga pants with a tummy control band in them. And still my stomach is protruding like Santa Clause! In the photo on the right I am wearing regular running shorts that only have an elastic band. I almost threw these shorts out because the band would hurt my stomach. Now they are one of my favorite pairs of shorts. The shirt is the same in both photos.

Currently in 2016 Weight Loss and Eczema

I am currently 20 pounds down. I am the same size and roughly the same weight as I was in 2012 when I hit my goal. But this time I workout less, I eat better and I juice way more. And this has gotten me a body that I am more happy with. I still have a little ways to go, but I am happy with my progress.

Add Fruits and Vegetables in for a Flat Belly

Whatever diet you subscribe to, paleo, vegan, whatever…eat a lot of veggies! You can even incorporate juicing in your diet to get more nutrients in. Nourishing your body is key. Our diet is loaded with calories but low on nutrients. This has left our bodies nutrient deficient, which is why we feel hungry when we eat clean…at first. Nourish your body and you’ll be able to eat less. I think the fear of fruit is ridiculous. We are ok loading up on bacon or bread but not a mango…c’mon! Adding in those fruits will add sugar, but it’s not the kind of sugar that is cancer causing and fat causing. But because there is sugar, limit to 4 servings a day. The fiber and nutrients in the fruit far outweighs the sugar, and it will get things moving if you know what I mean!!! Argue all day on this, I don’t care, I feel amazing and am much healthier and better than when I limited my fruit intake.

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Eggs and Dairy. Two of the foods that showed up the highest on my food sensitivities test….really high. I received a lot of advice about these foods, such as…

Try goats milk products, goats milk is better for humans than cow.

Only eat the egg yolks

Remove for 30 days then slowly add them back in.

Remove for 60 days then slowly add back in.

Try egg substitutes

Try fermented goats milk

Try raw milk

I was able to prove that just because it’s advice doesn’t mean it’s right. I have gradually learned that…

Dairy is dairy, goat or cow it may work for a little while but eventually the eczema doesn’t like it.

What am I going to do with just this egg yolk first of all, secondly the eczema said nice try.

Egg substitutes still have all kinds of chemicals and proteins…no bueno.

So for 30 days I saw vast improvement! Now I’m gradually adding in a food that this eczema hates and I have to completely start over because I’m a big scaly dry mess!!!!

Raw or fermented, it’s still dairy.

Removing dairy and eggs for one week.

Like I said, well meaning but sorry not working. Anthony Williams (Medical Medium) had the best advice, remove the triggers till its completely gone. Not till it has improved, till it is completely gone!! How long will this take? Everyone is different, every illness is different. Patience is a great lesson in life here!

For me eggs and dairy cause inflammation in the body. It’s impossible to heal when you are inflamed. I have now found that egg substitutes such as “Egg Replacer” are just as bad. Egg substitutes are fine if you have a moral reason to avoid eating eggs. But if you have an allergy to the proteins and chemical compounds in eggs, replacing it with a product that is largely made up of the same proteins and chemical compounds is counterproductive. Basically it’s like eating the damn egg.

Eggs and dairy can be inflammatory for a lot of auto immune diseases. And yes raw, organic, pasteur – whatever label they have it’s still eggs and dairy. It’s the proteins and enzymes in these foods that can cause troubles.

Healing after a week of indulging.

Yes you can and yes I can live without eggs and dairy. We live in a country of abundance, there are endless other foods I get to eat. Changing my mindset was key. A few weeks ago I splurged for my birthday. The splurge lasted a couple of weeks. My face, arms and back were completely broken out for weeks! It was confirmation to me that feeling bad and having skin issues is not worth the few bites of cheese or the dessert with egg in it. The photo here on the right is my back, about 10 days apart.

It also inhibits healing, which is counterproductive to my goals.

This is my underarm, I hate having eczema here because with sweating it itches and burns like crazy! The photo on the left is from June 2016, post vacation skin…aka indulging. It cleared up a little bit off and on but nothing significant (despite being on an herbal supplement for skin). Then post birthday celebrations in early September it flared up to be as bad as it was in June. I finally got it, dairy and eggs is not helping me progress, even in small portions. So post birthday celebrations I limited animal proteins, juiced every day and bam, clear arms!!!!

Tips for Dairy and Egg Free Life

You can absolutely adjust!!

Vegan recipes are very helpful. Bonus, I am far less bloated than ever before, who doesn’t love a flat tummy?

Focus on the goal of healing.

Learn along the way.

Celebrate the mountains of amazing food you get to have.

Roll your eyes when other people whine they they could never live without dairy and eggs.

Be confident that you are in control of your body and your body is truly healing!

Egg and Dairy Free Breakfast

Breakfast seems to be the hard choice for those that are egg and dairy free. Here are some breakfast ideas.

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When you study nutrition you learn that quality foods are the building blocks of health. The variety of minerals and vitamins food gives us is what strengthens our bones and keeps us vibrant and healthy. So why do we need to pump fluoride in everything for our teeth?

Each time I went to a dermatologist they would ask “what kind of toothpaste to you use, does it have fluoride?”. My assumption was they thought I was not rinsing well enough and residue was staying around my mouth. I’d answer them and assure them I rinsed well and that was that. There was never any follow up on this trail.

At this point the eczema that is troubling me the most mentally is the eczema on my face. Specifically my chin and jawline. Being vain, it’s the most obvious and makeup only made it look scalier. So I did some quick internet research on eczema along chin and jawline. This is when I found out that sunscreens, make up with sunscreen, beauty products with parfume and fragrance, and fluoride can irritate facial eczema. I had already eliminated all of those items except fluoride.

So this idea just kept niggling at me “what kind of toothpaste do you use, does it have fluoride”? But doctors never pursued this line of thought so I was a little perplexed by it. However, I’m one that believes in listening to those niggling voices. So one day I grabbed a tube of toothpaste without fluoride and went on my merry way.

That night I used the toothpaste and didn’t really think much about it. The next morning I woke up to completely, and I mean COMPLETELY clear skin in my most troubled area. My chin and jaw line were completely clear. The change in toothpaste was so minor to me and such white noise that I honestly didn’t put two and two together. I remember marveling with Sam about how clear my skin suddenly was. I told him that I feel like I may have done something so small and minor that I’m missing what it was. That’s when the lightbulb went off and I remembered that I had changed my toothpaste.

Photos are a week apart. On left is with fluoride.

Note: I am not saying fluoride causes eczema, I am saying it irritates it. The purpose of my journey is to eventually be healed and in the process I must remove irritants and anything that prevents healing.

I then went to the internet and started doing some research. I found loads of research from as far back as the 1950’s on fluoride and skin conditions. The research noted that it was a minority of people in their test cases that experienced these problems but nevertheless the evidence is there! The fluoride is absorbed into the mouth lining affecting the face the most.

(the above website was a starting point, I took their information and dug deeper and found this same study in more detail. I even read the entire study. I won’t overwhelm you with the links but have provided the starting point)

Taken July 2016 – just out of the shower my face is always a bit red. But it’s clear of bumps and scales about 80% of the time vs 0% as before.

I went on to read that this is a pretty well know studies in the field of dermatology but not dentistry. I can confirm this, I have brought this up to 2 dentist and 2 hygienists and they look at my like I started speaking Pharsee. They have no idea what I’ talking about and each one said “I’ve never heard of anyone being allergic or having problems with fluoride.”

I think more people have trouble than are aware they have trouble.

Since then I have eliminated fluoride completely and I continue to go to the dentist and they continue to give me the “perfect teeth” report. So I ask again, why do we have fluoride forced on us?

Toothpaste Without Fluoride

Here are some I’ve found I like.

Tom’s of Maine – found just about anywhere. Pretty close to your traditional toothpaste.

Jason’s – also found just about anywhere. A little more natural than traditional.

Redmond Clay Earthpaste – found at natural stores or online. I know people that like this but it’s not my favorite of the choices out there. Felt like I had to use a lot to get things going.

Primal Life Organics Toothpowder – this takes a little getting used to, but I absolutely love it!!! It whitens great and really keeps my teeth and breath clean.